Monday, May 27

We kicked off the Memorial Day festivities by attending a cookout at my in-law's yesterday. Today was dedicated to doing things around the house.

Brian and I went plant shopping in the morning and then I spent the afternoon planting said plants while Brian made a batch of beer. I made a kickass version of a sandwich I saw on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (photos coming later in the week) and Brian helped me finish planting my vegetable garden this evening (in the rain, no less).

Sunday, May 26

This was a pretty fantastic movie. It told the story of a boy who survived a shipwreck and was stranded at sea (on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger of all things) for 227 days. It was an amazing story. The three of us give it six thumbs up!

Saturday, May 25

Baseball game. One of our employees rented a suite at the Altoona Curve stadium and invited us to attend the game. It was last night. It was fricking cold out there, but the suite was warm enough. As a bonus, the Pens game was playing on the television in the suite, so it was like a two-for-one deal. As I've probably stated before, I'm not fan of baseball, but if you have to watch a game, doing it from a suite is the way to go.

Monday, May 20

My parents hosted the annual birthday dinner for my brother and I yesterday. I haven't been in the mood to cook lately, so it was nice to take the day off cooking. Plus there was cheesecake. And homemade limoncello (along with a bonus bottle to take home). And presents. So, I guess you could call that day a winner.

Wednesday, May 15

Oops. I forgot to cover my potatoes the other night and they got frosted. For the most part everything else in the garden made it through (a couple of the tomato plants got a little frost damage, so I might have to replace them, but I have a bunch of extra tomato plants, so no big deal). I read that the potatoes will probably still grow even with the damage. I guess I'll find out in time. If not, I hope I can make it through the great potato famine of 2013.

Sunday, May 12

Normally our family get-togethers are fairly laid back affairs, but we had some extended family and friends at Jacob's birthday celebration/Mother's Day dinner this afternoon and it was a bit more rambunctious than most.

Since we were hosting so many people and were not able to do the cookout thing due to the weather (therefore everyone had to hang out in the house), Buster was shipped off to doggy daycare (he's still pissed about that). Lizzy spent most of her time in the crate in the bedroom. Only Alice was left to her own devices.

I cooked a ton of food and got the house in shape yesterday. We have a bunch of leftovers, so I guess I won't need to cook for a couple of days and that's fine with me. I think everyone had a good time--I know we did.

Saturday, May 11

This was a great movie. I just love Jennifer Lawrence. While it was billed as a comedy, it was more of a dramedy. You don't want to go into this movie thinking it's going to be a laugh riot, though it does have some pretty funny moments. Bradley Cooper did a great job as well playing the main character, a man suffering from a bipolar disorder who was institutionalized for a number of months due to a court order (which came after he caught his wife cheating on him and he beat up the other guy). Brian even stayed awake for it, that's how good it was.

Sunday, May 5

The garden is in full swing. Over half of it is planted at this point. I'm just waiting for warmer weather to plant the rest.

Yesterday was spent doing yard work. Brian got a truckload of mulch in the morning and we re-mulched the dog and pond areas with it in the afternoon. We even took the time to edge the path of the mulch so it looks pretty good this year. While the edger was out, he also did the front sidewalk. The grass was cut yesterday, as well, so the yard is looking great (except for all of the weeds). And, he turned over the compost bin, too. It was quite an industrious day.

On an unrelated note, we went fishing yesterday at Greenhouse Park. I got a couple of bites, but Brian was the only one to catch a fish. We didn't keep it as it was kind of small and I don't trust those waters anyway.